JMSS To Face New Opponents As An ‘A’ School
John McGregor Secondary School will be competing against a different group of schools beginning this year, as the school has been reclassified from ‘AA’ to ‘A’ due to declining enrolment.
The LKDSB projects the John McGregor population to be at 590 for the upcoming school year.
A reclassification to ‘A’, which was approved by OFSAA, Ontario’s governing body of high school athletics, means John McGregor will now be competing against different competition in major sports including basketball, soccer, and hockey.
Other sports, such as track and field, badminton, and tennis, have always featured combined competitions regardless of school size, while sports including hockey and rugby, saw ‘A’ and ‘AA’ schools compete against one another.
For basketball, soccer, and hockey, John McGregor will now participate in leagues, and compete for OFSAA qualification against Blenheim, Ridgetown, Chatham Christian, Pain Court, Lambton-Kent, and Tilbury.
Last season at the ‘AA’ level, John McGregor won the LKSSAA senior boys soccer, senior boys basketball, and junior boys volleyball titles, as well as the overall team tennis championship.
If JMSS successfully competed at the AA level in 2016-2017 and still qualifies for 2017-2018 by OFSAA standards as an AA school due to student population, then why the urgency to appeal its AA status in order to compete at the A level? What’s the motive?